Star Wars:Shadows of the past
by FMallard
Summary: The first in a complete rewrite of the Sequel Trilogy. Written to be more in line with the new EU material.
1. Chapter1

Star Wars: Episode VII: Shadows of the Past

29 years have passed since the fall of the Galactic Empire. The New Republic holds sway over a tenuous peace in the galaxy, political factions vie for control, some arguing for control and others for freedom. Meanwhile, strange transmissions are heard from the UNKNOWN REGIONS. They speak of rumours of a new threat, rumours of the FIRST ORDER.

General LEIA ORGANA listens in, wary but prepared to resist with her forces, the PHOENIX fleet. A ragtag group of soldiers and ships that are unofficially sanctioned by the New Republic. They are the thin line that exists between the Galaxy and the fires of another war….

The TIE/sf came screaming out of a bright hyperlane and into the darkness of space. The pilot was screaming too, though she could hardly hear herself over the shrill beeping of the pressure warning. A blaster hit has punctured the TIE's spherical cabin and if it weren't for her pressurised flight suit, she would have died before making the jump.

She fumbled at the controls, the gloves were too large, but the stolen suit had had to do. She managed to flick off the warning light and looked around for the pressure leak. It was just above her, a small hole no larger than her fist.

It only took her a moment to find the emergency patch for the hull, she had grown up around and inside these ships, repairing them as part of her family's duty to their masters. But even old memories had a way of vanishing after a hard-enough blow to the head; the hit she'd talen had rattled her head around her helmet like a gravball.

Once the hole was patched, she looked down at her sensors to try and work out where she was. She should be in New Republic space now, or the very edges of it anyway. She had heard some of the Human Imperials talk about it before, The Outer Rim, they called it.

That seemed fitting, it was outside all of the space her people and The First Order lived in.

She frowned at what she saw in her sensors. For now they were… quiet, normal. No raging waves of gravity, no chaotic asteroid fields, no churning nebulas filled with hungry Grallocs. Just cold, stale nothingness. That and a small desert planet not far away.

"Wooo!" She cheered, suddenly elated despite the fact that she was in a ship that could barely move and had limited air. She'd done it, she'd escaped! She did what every slave wished they could do. Freedom, glorious freedom was hers. No more taking orders, no more beatings, no more serving First Order officers that made her skin crawl.

Her happiness was overshadowed a moment later by something else. She was free but what of her family? Of the people she had left behind?

Her thoughts were cut off by her sensors trilling again. Three craft had just dropped out of Hyperspace behind her. They were listed as friendly by the TIE, which meant they were anything but.

"Unregistered TIE. Power down and prepare to submit." A stern male voice came through her headset, right into her ear like a nightmare whisper. She froze, that was Captain Windrider, she still had bruises on her arms from the last time she had disobeyed. "This is your last warning Rey. You won't be so lucky next time."

Rey swallowed down the acrid taste of her fear and pushed forward on the throttle. If she was fast, she could make it behind the shadow of the planet and jump again before they shot her down.

If.

The TIE's engines flared to life, rattling the cockpit and Rey along with it. She felt her joints popping, the force of acceleration pushing her into her seat. Immediately streaks of green blasters flew past her canopy, lighting up the inside of her cockpit and revealing how badly her hands were shaking on the controls.

She leaned forward on the controls, angling the TIE down toward the planet's surface, trying to ignore the blaster bolts that were inching past her. Her sensors trilled again and another, larger craft appeared on them. It introduced itself by firing a single long streak of green turbolaser fire.

"You've made your choice Rey! I'm going to enjoy this and when I'm done with you maybe we'll make an example of your family. The Nitah will curse your name and disown you for this! If there's anyone left."

Rey screamed. The captain wouldn't do that too her family. The First Order was strict, violently so but the Nitah family were one of the few slave families trusted to work on their ships. They wouldn't just throw away a resource like that, Would they? Had she doomed her own family in trying to save others?

She didn't have time to think. The planet filled up her canopy and the TIE shook even harder as it hit atmosphere. She was coming in too fast, far too fast. She had wanted to skim the top of the atmosphere but the TIE wasn't responding properly. The times she had snuck into the simulators hadn't prepared her for anything like this.

She plunged into the atmosphere, still pursued by the three TIE's and their barrage of laser fire. She frantically leaned on the controls, duking left and right, the blaster bolts mere inches from her ship.

The craft thudded once, twice as she was hit and the deflectors were finally overpowered, failing with a barely audible pop in the thin upper atmosphere. She spotted a bank of clouds below and to her starboard. She dived for them, pushing the throttle all the way.

Twin tails of ice trailed off the edges of the TIE's wings as she dropped into the cloud and her canopy was obscured by white. She was flying blind now, all she could see was the occasional streak of muted green light. She levelled out and pulled back on the throttle, slowing down more than her pursuers.

It worked. She faintly heard the droning scream of a TIE engine as it flew over her. Her sensors, disrupted by the atmosphere and clouds, vaguely registered objects flying past her. Hopefully the pilots wouldn't notice.

Rey let herself smile, just a little. Her pale blue lips twitching. All she had to do was turn away and run back into space. To freedom.

Her TIE rose vertically out of the clouds, vapour rolling off the black solar wings. The harsh sunlight blinded her at first, a stark change from the all-encompassing white clouds. She squinted through it and only then noticed the TIE fighter waiting in front of her, right in her own ships shadow.

"I gave you a choice Rey !" Windrider's voice was seething with fury. "You chose wrong. You Chiss can do anything right." He smiled and thumbed the triggers.

Time slowed. She swore she could see Windrider's snarling face through his cockpit. Rey yanked the stick right, it felt like her hands were moving through molasses though, the ship had barely begun to turn when he fired.

The first shot ripped through the top of her left wing, shearing metal with a bright shower of sparks.

The second and third punched through the strut that connect the fuselage to the wing. Rey screamed and punched the thrusters as acrid smoke filled the cockpit. Her TIE went into a spiral, belching smoke and flames with a scream of its ion engines. Windrider tracked her across the sky and fired a final time, blowing out her engines. Leaving only gravity to pull her down to her death.

"So long Rey, I'll make sure your family knows you died for nothing."

Rey barely heard the words; the force of the spinning TIE slammed her head against the inside of the helmet and she passed out just before she slammed into the desert sand.

"Windrider to Rax, the escapee is down. We'll leave it to the ground team to clean up. Make sure they don't leave anything behind. It's almost time for the First Order to take it's revenge on this galaxy."

—————

General Leia Organa sighed as she settled back into the hard frame of a folding chair. It was the same type they had had at the base on Yavin. Sparse, efficient; uncomfortable. She didn't remember it being that bad back then, but she hadn't been nearly as old then either. She had been royalty once, with access to any plush chair she wanted. What had happened to those days?

The roar of an X-Wing engine passed overhead, rattling the chairs and data terminals that filled her command tent. Right, the war, the Empire.

That had changed everything. She had gone from Princess and senator to rebel, to a general and, eventually, a hero of a new galaxy.

She had been so young then, younger even than…

Leia stopped herself, that was too raw, too painful. Luke had cautioned her against swallowing down her feelings but that was all she could do with that particular memory. She was no Jedi, let Luke control his feelings, she had a job to do. The New Republic wouldn't protect itself.

"General Organa, sensors on the Outer Rim detected something. This might be important" From behind a databank the round, bearded face of Commander Wexley appeared. He waved a datapad at Leia, closely watched by the dozen or so analysts around them.

"What is it Snap? This better not be another Mynock hunt."

Wexley smiled. The last few reports had really been nothing but Mynocks feeding on sensor stations. It had been a waste of the Phoenix fleet's time. But they had to be sure, just in case. Something was out there, something had attacked the senate building five years ago and started all of this. Leia wanted to be ready when whatever it was came back. She didn't need to be a Jedi to feel the change coming.

"Hopefully not ma'am, this looks like the readings of Fighter craft. Almost like the old TIE fighters but with Hyperspace signatures and…" He looked away, uncertain.

"Come on out with it? And enough with the 'Ma'am'. We've known each other for thirty years." Leia hoped she sounded confident; she didn't feel it. Something wasn't right.

"Yes Ma- Leia, It looks like there was blaster fire and the location… It was above Jakku."

"Jakku? Are you serious? That dustball? It's a graveyard now, nothing but bones and empty Star Destroyers."

"I know, I fought there too. My whole family did." Wexley looked away. Images of bloodied sand and chaos ran through his head. That and the face of his father, a man he had hardy known and lost so early.

"I'm sorry Snap. Tell me more, where did these old TIE's come from?"

Snap looked back up at her and Leia was reminded again of hold old they all were. His face was lined and weathered with age. He looked very different to the teenager she had first met on Chandrilla. All those years had passed and they were still fighting.

Had anything really changed?

"It's alright. Jakku was… hard, for all of us back then. Anyway, I'm sure it's nothing. We're not sure where they came from; they're vectors put them as having originated from Wild Space. There's all sorts of stuff out there. Who knows maybe there's some old Imperials out there and this was just a dispute?"

"There's no such thing as coincidence in this galaxy. I don't need to be my brother to tell you that. Send Black squadron out to take a look. Dameron is chafing in his flight suit. This will at least give him something to do."

Snap smiled; the young pilot had been asking for some action. This might not be what he had in mind but it would keep him from complaining to Snap anymore.

"Will do ma-, Leia." He nodded and left to scramble the squadron. Leia felt something like fear in the pit of her stomach. Was this just another waste of time? Or had something really begun. She hoped, for all their sakes, that it was nothing.

—————

The wreck of the TIE was half buried in the deep sands of Jakku, still spewing burning fuel into the hazy afternoon sky.

The remaining wing was gone and all that remained was the central ball of the cockpit. The canopy was shattered, the engines exploded. There was nothing left but scrap and the acrid smell of melting metal.

The cockpit was empty though. The ejection seat had been fired and the pilot laid nearby in the sand. The Human scavenger called to his compatriots when he found the pilot.

At first, he thought they were dead. The front of their helmet was cracked open. It looked like the old helmets he sometimes found in the hulking wrecks of old Imperial ships but slightly different; sharper, meaner. When the scavenger pulled off the pilot's helmet he fell back in shock.

The pilot was alive, her lips parted and her chest moving slowly beneath the flight suit. He was shocked; he had never seen a creature with her blue skin and dark purple hair. She could be a Pantoran but had no ritual tattoos. Her eyes were half closed but the scavenger saw that they had a faint, red glow.

Who, what, was she? And what was the insignia on her chest?

The scavengers surrounded the unconscious pilot, looking over her injuries and talking among themselves. Survivors of a crash were rare; Jakku was a harsh planet, the graveyard of a dead empire and many others.

This one was alive though and in a strange TIE fighter. That could mean any number of things, the oldest scavenger; an Ithorian covered in scars and with a permanent scowl remembered watching the sky burn as the Republic and Empire had clashed in their last battle. If war came back to Jakku it would mean nothing but sadness.

They could leave the pilot there in the sand, hope that the Empire or whoever they were found her and left Jakku alone. No one would say anything; Jakku was not a kind planet, the desert claimed what it wanted. The pilot would just be another victim. Yet…

Something didn't feel right. The old Ithorian felt it in their bones, a deep ache that told them this was something special.

The Ithorian sighed and motioned for the others in their group to form a stretcher. The pilot would come with them. They looked at the burning cockpit, hoping that they would never see another one like it.

—————

Fn-21887 barely felt the jolt of the dropship entering orbit. The craft's inertial dampeners turned the roaring force of re-entry into a barely perceptible nudge. He took a deep breath anyway; despite how many times they had trained for this, he was nervous. His hands were sweaty inside his armoured gloves, his quick breathing echoed inside his helmet.

Not for the first time he wondered if he was the only one.

Around him his brother and sisters all stood stock still in their stark white Stormtrooper armour. They didn't even look human, yet alone nervous. 2187 felt a surge of pride at that. This was the army he was part of, the family he had grown up alongside. Together they had fought against the other units until they became the sharp edge of the First Order's spear.

He didn't need to be nervous; he had his family with him.

"30 seconds to drop! Weapons ready!"

2187 looked down and flicked the safety off his F-21 blaster, loosened the latch of the folded vibro-bayonet. Watching his brothers and sisters he noticed the first signs of nerves from them. FN-2195 fumbled her safety, 2201 gripped his weapon tighter than was recommended. Fn-2187 frowned, was the spear of the Order not ready?

He was about to find out.

"Steady!"

2187 swallowed. His whole life had led up to this moment 20 years of training, of bonding with his squamates, of fighting the other units and struggling every day for the First Order. He was their loyal servant, their enforcer. Their tool to take revenge on the evil New Republic and return honour and justice to the galaxy. He was ready, he was-

"Go! Go! Go!"

The dropship touched down with a roar of its engine and the deep thud of the troop bay door opening a second later. 2187's unit surged out; any thoughts lost as the glare of the desert sun enveloped them. 2187 followed along, rifle raised as they fanned out around them dropship with rigid precision.

Beside him two more units did the same, 2187 imagined the JD unit to his left shooting glares at them. They had been badly mauled by FN squad in the last training exercise. Four of JD had been sent to the infirmary; that was more than normal.

A small detachment of troopers was analysing the wreckage of the TIE fighter nearby. The fuel still burned, a plume of black smoke leaving an ugly scar against the otherwise pristine blue sky.

The order came for the units to spread out and establish a perimeter around the TIE. 2187 obeyed, taking care to stay away from the JD troopers. Such rivalries were normal among the Stormtroopers, the conflict kept them sharp, kept them vicious. Without it they would be no match for the bloodthirsty brigands and pirates that made up the New Republic terrorists. They would never erupt into anything on the field though, doing so would shame their valiant commanders. Still, a little caution never hurt.

There was an excited murmur that rippled through the troops as a shadow passed overhead. 2187 looked up to see the black bat-like shape of Master Ren's ship come sweeping down and land nearby. The murmur was quashed a moment later as the ship's wings folded up and a figure in black robes emerged from the craft.

2187 shivered. The First Order was a force for justice in the galaxy a violent one perhaps, but it stood for Justice and revenge. Kylo Ren was the epitome of that.

His prowess was legendary, tales of his effectiveness against rebels in Order occupied space ran rife through the troopers. That he had personally come to oversee the hunt for the escaped slave was a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. If Ren was here then the Order was doing good, punishing a criminal that dared to defy it.

"Where is the girl?" Ren's deep voice was obscured by his helmet's speakers. The effect made him seem more like a machine than a man.

"We- We're not sure Master. The TIE is empty, but there are tracks leading to the north. Reconnaissance shows there is a small village that way. Perhaps she…" The grey uniformed lieutenant trailed off. Ren had ignited his lightsaber. The three blades of crackling red energy cast a shifting light on the Officers uniform.

"Perhaps? Perhaps what lieutenant? You were in charge of this ground team. Why did you not have TIEs on station above the wreck?"

The Lieutenant took a step back, fear clear in his eyes. Ren's combat record was legendary, but so was his rage.

"Sir I… The reports said the TIE had crashed, no one could survive that…"

"Well clearly someone did. Find her!" Ren barked, turning away, his saber still crackling.

The Lieutenant saluted, his hand clearly shaking against his forehead. "Yes sir! I won't make this mistake again!"

"No. You won't." In a single smooth motion Ren span around and beheaded the officer, his corpse and head falling to the hot sand. Beside him, his adjutant stepped back, barely able to contain a shriek.

"You're in charge now. Find the girl. Quickly, kill any who stand in your way. The New Republic can't know about us yet." With that Ren deactivated his saber and returned to his ship, leaving the shaking Lieutenant standing by her companions' corpse.


	2. Chapter2

A menacing figure in black robes stalked towards Rey, it's face hidden behind a helmet of sark metal and chrome. Rey scrambled backwards, falling to the cold, hard metal floor of the flight deck. The figure radiated hatred. It rolled off him like heat that singed Rey's skin. Blood dripped from the creature's gloved hands, behind it Sa'Meli's slight frame lay unmoving on the floor. Her slender blue face still, her eyes closed.

Rey sobbed, her body shaking with terror even as she realised this was a dream. It had been WIndrider that had killed Sa'meli, not this terrifying black figure. The officers could do whatever they wanted to slaves like her; no one would stop him. This was how life is for the Chiss in the First Order. Something about the feeling from the figure was worse; if the Officers would beat her for fun then this thing, this dark creature would kill her without a thought.

The figure loomed over her, its anger so intense that Rey could feel it; a slick, hot grasp that slipped unwelcome into her mind. Rey whimpered, too scared to scream. Her mother had told her about this creature. About the war that had subjugated the Chiss and the stories of the monsters with swords of red light that had defeated even the great Chiss Ascendancy.

There was no fighting these unnatural creatures, the humans spoke of tales of other beings who could stand against them but the Chiss had no such ability. All they could do was run, surrender or die. Eventually they had chosen surrender and their people had become slaves. Facing down the creature now with all its power and horror Rey understood why.

The creature's armoured boot moving too slowly through the cold air of the ship, down toward Rey's face. She watched it come toward her; the fear overwhelming her, consuming her. Faintly she heard the sound of a scream, was that Sa'Meli or…

Rey woke screaming, the creature's hidden face filling her mind. Her skin felt raw, burned like she had stood close to a launching TIE. She was covered in a layer of sweat and her tongue was thick and dry in her mouth. The dream had felt so real, she swore she could smell the chemical scent of starfighter fuel. The way she had felt the creature's rage…

Rey shivered, that nightmare had been worse than normal.

Only then did she realise she didn't know where she was. The fear crept back up like bile in her throat. She was lying on a rough blanket inside a low tent, it's walls made of patched fabric strung across rusted struts that looked like they came from a ship. The floor was mostly bare sand and a few more ragged blankets. It smelled of old oil and stale sweat.

Where was she? All she remembered was stealing the TIE, of somehow navigating to the Outer Rim. Then the chase, plunging through the clouds and… Windrider, his seething face, a flash of green.

She shivered despite her the heat inside her. Outside her too, she realised. It was stiflingly hot inside the tent, even the ground beneath her blanket was hot, the sand radiating heat like a Solar wing after a flight. It had been a desert planet she had been heading to hadn't it? But how had she survived? And how did she end up here?

"Are you alright?" A harsh, gravelly voice asked from outside. Rey froze; was it the First Order? Had they come chasing her to the planet's surface? "I'm coming in, I have water, you must be thirsty."

The flap of the tent parted and a strange creature entered. Rey scrambled back, more frightened than if it had been a Stormtrooper in white armour. The alien had a long, broad face with drooping tendrils by its mouth and a scraggly white beard that framed it's pointed head. The alien looked old, its brown skin lined and weathered with age.

Rey stared in a mix of fear and confusion. She had never seen anything except Chiss and Humans. Her whole life had been lived a board a single Starship, but she had never seen the galaxy.

"It's alright, I won't hurt you." The creature said softly. His thick, leathery fingers held a small clay bowl of water. Rey looked from it to his small brown eyes. "It's water. You do drink water right? Here." The Alien offered Rey the bowl.

She eyed him for a moment, realising for the first time how much her throat hurt, how much all of her hurt. She carefully reached out for the bowl, her fingers had barely brushed the rough surface before she snatched it away, spilling some of it on the ragged blanket.

Rey scrambled backwards into the skin of the tent, a lifetime of instinct taking over. That was how you had to be as a slave aboard a First Order ship, quick, careful and mistrusting. Some of the officers liked to taunt them and offer them food only to take away until they had completed their tasks. She gulped it down before the alien had a chance to say anything. The col was a welcome change from the tent's heat but a moment later half of it came back up in ragged coughs.

"Easy there, I'm not going to take it away. Water is precious here. It is to be shared with any who survive the desert." The creature smiled, his small mouth stretching wider, its tendrils twitching.

"Where… Where am I?" Rey whispered, still clutching the empty bowl to her chest.

"You're on Jakku child, a planet where most things come to die. Why have you come?"

Rey swallowed, could she trust this Alien? The stories that the First Order and their trusted Chiss had told her had said that the Galaxy was populated by bandits, thugs and murders. It was only the honourable First Order that could bring peace. She remembered WIndrider's angry face, the limp body of Sa'Meli and the blood on his knuckles. Could this alien be any worse?

Rey shook her head, "I came here to live. I stole a ship and escaped." Rey hesitated for a moment, looking into the alien's small, grey eyes. Could she trust this creature? "I need to find the New Republic. I need to help them live too."

"The New Republic? Then I'm afraid you have come to the wrong place child, the last time they were here it rained death from the skies. Now they sit in their shining cities and care only about the core systems. Worlds like Jakku and the Outer Rim have been left to rot. Even the great Skywalker has vanished." Rey had never seen one of these aliens before, but she could hear the distaste and the sadness in his voice.

"But how can I find them? The First Order already conquered my people. They have sworn to do the same to the Republic, and to kill this… Skywalker."

The creature laughed ruefully, shaking his head, his tendrils waving side to side as his lips curled into another smile. "Kill Skywalker? They can try, I'm not even sure he exists. The Jedi are legends, why not him too?" He sighed, "Perhaps we don't deserve heroes anymore."

Rey didn't know what the creature meant by "Jedi." She only knew what the Stormtroopers and Officer had discussed; the speeches made by Supreme Leader Snoke and General Hux that were broadcast in her ship. They spoke of Skywalker as the grand enemy, the one who forced them into the Unknown Regions, forced them to conquer the Chiss. If this "Skywalker" was real then he should be very afraid. The First Order were coming for him they were…

Here.

Rey froze. She felt something, the same slick grasp from her dreams. It wrapped around her, burning her skin and blowing through her. It felt wrong; a sickening touch that her body cringed away from.

Her senses snapped into place and for a moment the world around her was clear. She could smell the musky scent of the alien's hair, feel the heat rolling off each grain of sand beneath her and the hot, suffocating air in her throat. Panic flared in her, her mind racing; telling her to run, to hide. She could feel her heat hammering in her chest, the sound drowning out everything else. What was happening?

"Elder! There are people approaching, Bathi says it's the Empire!" Rey's world cracked back into normalcy as the tent of the flap was thrown open and a sweating young human rushed in.

"The Empire? No…" The alien looked back at Rey, fear plain in his eyes. "Hide child. We will find a way for you to escape. If you truly have not come to die then we should honour that." With that the alien stood and left, leaving Rey alone. The disgusting feeling still lingering in her throat.

FN-2187 stood behind his brother, FN-2159, peering over his armoured shoulder. The scavenger village was finally in sight after they had marched through the hot day. The sun was starting to set, turning the sky to shades of orange and the thin clouds into long streaks of blood.

The village wasn't extensive; just a small assortment of a few dozen or so tents and some ramshackle buildings built in the lee of a massive dune. There was a handful of civilians, most of them human but a few were alien species that 2187 had been briefed on.

He stared at the aliens, fascinated by how different they were but disgusted by their lack of human form. Every Stormtrooper was brought up on a combination of military drills and instruction on the traitorous New Republic. He knew that many of its citizens were barbaric aliens but he had only ever seen holos and pictures of the few who approached him now. They looked nothing like the rabid monsters from the stories his instructors had used to frighten the children.

In fact, they looked quite pitiful. Most of them were covered in rags or had their sunburned skin exposed to the elements. The difference between what he saw and what had had been told was so stark he could barely recognise most of them at first.

The only one he immediately recognised was an old Abednedo. He had a wild mane of white hair and short, drooping mouth tendrils. He limped across the sand, leaning on a tall walking stick at the front of the pathetic group of civilians.

"Who are you?" The old Abednedo called, his voice barely strong enough to make it across the empty sand. "The Empire is long dead, Jakku is a place of peace now. We just wish to be left alone."

No one moved for a moment. The only sound was the creak of armour and the soft breeze that played across the sand. 2187 watched the village behind the people, his blaster heavy in his hand; the New Republic was full of criminals and thugs. Surely the frail civilians were a ruse. Were there murders hiding between the tents, ready to leap out and attack?

"Bring us the girl and we will leave you be! The First Order does not wish to harm it's newest citizens." The Lieutenant called, her voice shaking a little. 2187 didn't blame her. Just being around Ren felt wrong. He could only imagine that she was thinking of what he had done to her predecessor.

"We have seen no girl! If you seek the crashed ship then it fell to the north. We left it alone, there are enough old carcasses here." The Abednedo and his group turned their back on the Lieutenant and began their walk back to the village.

Ren stepped forward, his long black cape swaying in the breeze. His hand shot out, gloved fingers splayed wide and the old Abednedo stopped in his track. The walking stick fell to the ground as his arms swung out to his sides. He started to scream, his head arched back and he was lifted off the sand.

It was over a moment later. The old Abednedo's scream ended in a hacking cough and his hands fell limp. Ren dropped his hand, the body fell lifelessly to the sand as if connected to Ren by a string. Ren didn't even spare it a second glance, he drew his saber and ignited it, the red blade turning the sand beneath it to glass.

Fn-2187 could hardly believe what he was seeing; how could Master Ren do this? The Abednedo had had his back turned, he was no threat to Ren. Where was the honour in this? 2187 had spent his entire life being taught of the honour of the First Order, of their righteousness. They were here to bring justice and to welcome these people as the first new members of the Order.

"Squads advance!"

The order came from the young lieutenant, her voice cracked but she gave the order with as much dignity as she could muster. The Stormtroopers began their advance. The stomp of their boots muted by the sand accompanied the snap and crackle sound of activated Vibrobayonets. 2187 found he couldn't move. His fellow troopers jostling him as they marched in, eager for their first taste of combat.

"2187! Advance for your Order!" The sergeant was at the head of his column, distinguishable by his wide, orange pauldron. 2187 stared at him for a moment, confused. The old Abednedo's scream was ringing in his ears; how could he obey? How could he be a part of what was about to happen?

The sergeant's familiar armour, the same type that 2187 wore, took on a disturbing, inhuman quality. He became not a man in armour but a cold, passionless machine, like those from the old wars. Just an unthinking droid that didn't care who it killed.

Did he look like that too?

A moment later the sergeant's chest was vaporised in a flash of bright blue light. The man had just enough time to scream before he tipped face first into the sand. 2187 was just registering what happened when more Stormtroopers in the front rank fell. Their comrades returned fire a heartbeat later and chaos descended on the village.

The Stormtroopers surged forward, racing for the cover of the tents and lean-tos. Flashes of blue blaster fire danced between them as the scavengers fought back. 2187 moved then, running for the tents more out of fear than a sense of duty. His mind was racing, his thoughts surging over each other like raging gases in a nebula.

Had Ren been right to kill the old Adbenedo? Was everything he had been taught true; were these scavengers New Republic thugs? But Ren had started it by killing the man. Were they in the right to fire back? 2187 felt tears stinging his dark eyes, his vision blurring inside his stifling helmet. What was he supposed to do? Who was wrong? Where was the honour in this?

The Stormtroopers made short work of the Scavengers scattered resistance. Screams echoed from within the labyrinth of shacks, often followed by the whirr of a Vibroblade. 2187 made it to the edge of the village and stumbled into a tent. It was hardly taller than he and made of old, frayed leather and rusted sheet metal. Inside it was dark and quiet, the metal holding back the sounds of carnage outside.

2187 ripped off his helmet just in time. He retched and vomited on the bare sand of the tents' floor. He kneeled there, his rifle forgotten, his body sweating and shaking as he vomited. The pain in his throat was a blessing; it gave him something to think about other than the raging emotions inside him.

He stopped retching just in time to see that he wasn't alone in the tent.

There was a young man across from him, barely older than 2187. The man wore what looked like the orange remnants of an old Rebel Alliance flight uniform. The two stared at each other for moment. 2187 on his hands and knees, the young man on his feet, staring at 2187 with a mixture of fear and hatred.

"I- I'm sorry. I don't want to-" 2187 didn't get to finish. The man leapt forward with a shriek. He kicked 2187 hard in the side of the head, sending him sprawling backward into the entrance of the tent. The young man kept up, pouncing onto 2187. He threw a flurry of frantic, wild punches at 2187's head.

The blows were quick but powerless and uncontrolled. 2187's body moved on its own, years of combat training taking over. He reached up to grab the young man's arm, pulling him off balance and then threw him up and over him with his armoured knees. The strike knocked the young man out of the tent and 2187 rolled over, scrabbling to his feet in the sand.

"Stop! I don't want to hurt you!"

The young man struggled to his feet, his eyes were wide with fear and his nose broken and bloodied. He looked around like a startled Womp rat, his home, his life, burning down around him. 2187 could understand why the man had attacked him. He wasn't a thug. He was just terrified.

So was 2187.

The young man started to say something when FN-2201 came around a nearby shack and bayoneted the man from behind.

The vibrating blade passed clean through his chest with a single motion. It tore through muscle and bone effortlessly. Dark blood sprayed from the man's wound onto the pale sand. 2201 shrugged the body off his blade and flicked off the blood. He looked down at 2187, his expression unreadable behind the featureless helmet.

"Thanks '87. You set him up for me." 2187 could hear the smile in his brother's voice.

2201 shrugged and lowered his hand to 2187. His black glove was slick with blood. 2187 stared at it for moment. 2201 was his brother, he had known him all his life. They had fought together against the other units countless times. They had suffered together and shared victories together. This was what they had been raised for. So why was 2187 repulsed by him now?

There was a cry from behind them and out of a small avenue between the tents another scavenger came running. It was an older human woman, her features eerily similar to the dead man in front of them. She slid to a stop in the sand when she saw the two Stormtroopers, then screamed when she saw the corpse.

2201 was already raising his blaster when she ran forward and crashed into him, sobbing. His blaster was trapped between his body and hers, the barrel pointed harmlessly at the sand. The two struggled to separate, a tangle of thrashing limbs and screeching voices. 2187 was so focused on them that he never saw Kylo Ren follow the woman in.

His red lightsabre punched through both of them. The blade punched through the back of 2201's armour with a crackle of barely restrained energy. The woman died silently but 2201 grunted and turned away before he fell into 2187.

2201 slowly raised a bloodied hand, reaching out desperately to 2187. His fingers found the top of his chest plate, they slid over the lip of the armour and held so tightly that 2187 couldn't move.

"Leave him. Find the girl." Ren barely spared them a second look, turning away with a sweep of his cloak. 2187 watched him walk away, anger swelling inside him. Everything he, 2201 and the rest of FN squad had done had been for the Order and the officers like Ren.

They had done things to the other cadet squads that filled his nightmares. They had been told it been for the greater good of the Order. The officers were supposed to be the parents the troopers had never known.

Was this how his parents, his "family" treated them? Ren was a murderer, and he had murdered 2187's brother.

He held 2201 until he stopped moving and his brother's grip on his armour loosened. Gently he pushed the body off him. His brother's blood left a bright red hand print on 2187's white chest plate. 2187 arranged his body as respectfully as he good, leaving the man's blaster by his side. It still didn't feel right, leaving his brother lying in the sand of a dead world. Was this supposed to be the fate of all the Stormtroopers?

2187's helmet smelled of bile and blood as he slipped it back on and walked deeper into the village. The fighting was dying down, angry shouts and blaster fire replaced by moans of pain and quiet sobbing. The scrubbers in 2187's helmet couldn't quite filter out the rank smell of burning flesh and smoke from tents that had caught flame.

He stumbled through the nightmare realm of the village, the silhouettes of Stormtroopers and civilians fading in and out of the smoke between the buildings. He still had a duty to do. He could serve his brothers and sisters but could he serve under the officers that had betrayed his trust? If he didn't have his duty, his family, then who was he?

2187 stopped in front of another low tent toward the far edge of the burning village. It was made of old fabric and scrap metal. Was there another frightened young man inside? Could 2187 save them? It was madness; his entire life had been spent obeying the First Order was he now thinking of disobeying them? It would be a betrayal, treason.

But could treasons sometimes be the right thing to do?

2187 swallowed down his fear. He couldn't actually feel 2201's blood on his chest, but it burned him all the same. He couldn't live with what he'd seen. He had to do something.

Very carefully he ducked into the tent.

"Stay away! I won't go back!"

2187 didn't even have time to blink before a rolled-up blanket bounced off his helmet. He fell backwards, his helmet slamming against the pole that supported the tent's entrance with a sharp ring. His vision swum for a heartbeat, the dim inside of the tent swaying and blurry. The blanket came down again and this time he was quick enough to reach up and catch it.

"Stop! I'm not going to hurt you. I- I want to help you." His voice wavered as he spoke, even saying it hurt. That was it, he was a traitor.

"Help? Don't lie to me! That's what Windrider said just before he..he…" The person holding the blanket dropped it and scurried backwards. 2187 could see now that it was a girl with familiar pale blue skin and glowing red eyes. It was the slave they had come looking for. He hadn't just betrayed the First Order by trying to help a random civilian. He had betrayed the very orders that had brought him here.

"Please, I just want to help. What's happening here isn't right."

Something about the Stormtrooper's voice, even distorted by his helmet made Rey stop. It felt like he was telling the truth. She looked up from the ground, her thin arms wrapped around her knees and stared into the black visor, one just like all the others she had seen in her life.

"How can I trust you?" She whispered.

"You'll just have to." The Stormtrooper held out his gloved hand. Rey stared at it for a second, fear and mistrust raging in her mind. How many times had the Stormtroopers aboard the Rax done the same only to beat the unfortunate Chiss slave?

Something whispered over the storm in her mind. Something quiet and calm that told her to trust him. Rey didn't know what it was but she knew, somehow, that she could trust it. It felt… right.

Rey reached out and grabbed the trooper's hand. Her thin blue fingers looked tiny in his thick, black gloves. That was when she noticed they were covered in warm blood.

"You found her! This is JD-5580, we've found the girl on the camp's eastern edge." Rey froze another Stormtrooper had marched into the tent, his sharp bayonet dripping blood by her face. The Stormtrooper had been lying.

2187 stepped back, shocked, he tried to say something but the expressionless mask of the JD trooper left him speechless. He looked down toward the young girl and froze. Her face was twisted in hatred.

Hatred directed straight at him.


	3. Awakening

"The criminal is in here Lord Ren. Shall we execute her?" The Stromtrooper stood by the entrance to a small, decrepit tent. The ragged flap had been cut off and inside Kylo Ren could see the slave was bound on the floor, two Stromtroopers holding bayonets at her neck.

"Bring her out, I will do it myself." Ren smiled beneath his helmet. The scavengers in the village had been no challenge to his power. This slave would not be one either but she could serve as an example to others of her kind.

The Chiss were weak, they had almost been beaten by their enemies, the Grysk, and then subjugated by the Imperials. If they were truly strong then they would have never suffered so badly in their first war, let alone lost the second.

"Summon a droid. I want every slave in the fleet what happens when you defy the might of the First Order." The Stromtrooper nodded and stepped away, quietly speaking into his helmet. Two more of his comrades roughly carried the girl out of the tent by her arms. She was slumped over, dejected and beaten. Just as she should be. Kylo nodded and the two troopers dropped her to the ground. Behind them a third trooper emerged, Kylo noticed that they had a bloody handprint on their armour.

"Look at me." Kylo commanded.

The girl looked up, one of her eyes was swollen shut, the skin already turning a darker shade of blue. Despite that her one good eye still stared up at him, it glowed like a starfighter's thruster. Good, he could see the hatred in them.

"Go ahead," The girl spat, "I won't go back."

"Your hatred gives you strength. If only all your people were like this. It would make them useful." Kylo ignited his saber, enjoying the pleasant thrum of energy in his hand. It was raw power; the only true power in the galaxy. The power to kill, to conquer. The power of the Dark Side.

"Just do it, my family will remember me."

"Don't worry, They'll see you again soon."

"No! Leave them alone you monster!" The girl tried to leap to her feet, her arms struggling against the binders on her wrist. She gasped as one of the troopers smacked the stock of his blaster into her and she tumbled to the ground again. Kylo noticed the trooper behind them start to step forward. He stopped dead when Kylo leaned down and pulled the girl to her feet by her the collar of her stolen uniform.

"Your devotion to your family is admirable. It won't help you though, they are weak, just as you are." Kylo raised his glowing saber just inches from the girl's head. A part of him was thrilled to see the way her eyes stared down the length of the blade. Her red eyes were a weak imitation of its strength.

"The family of a Chiss is her strength. I wouldn't expect a human like you to understand." Kylo smiled, if only she knew. His family had led him to this; it had led him to power.

"I think I do. Your family cared for you, didn't they? I can feel it, your emotions betray you. You're afraid, your family had always been there to protect. They aren't here for you now."

The girl leaned back as far as Kylo's iron grip would allow, fear crept into her strange, alien eyes. He could feel the it rolling off her; the dank, primordial sense of an animal that knows it is doomed. It felt good.

She was on her knees before him, subjugated by his strength. Soon the whole galaxy would do the same and then… so would his family.

"No! Stay away from them! Stay away from me!"

Kylo recoiled, disgusted. Something surged through his body like an electric charge. His sense of the girl was blown away by it, the feeling of her fear vanished, replaced, for a moment, by his own. He knew this feeling; he hadn't felt its touch in many years but remembered it clearly. It was something very old, something that reminded him of his past and his family's legacy; his family's weakness.

He threw the girl back like she was putrid garbage. The Force gave him strength and she went flying into the tent. Fabric and metal collapsed around her, burying her beneath it.

What was happening? Had he felt the Force in the girl? Why would it choose a weakling like her? The Chiss had fallen so easily in part, because they hadn't been worthy of the Force. They had broken before it and the might of the Dark Side.

Why was it appearing now?

"Keep her alive but hide this discovery from your 'master.' She may prove useful." The rumbling voice of his true master said. As always, he heard it in his mind, heard it and felt it. His Master's voice was like the blast of air from a collapsed airlock, the pressure of a high gravity world and the hatred of a great beast.

"I will, master. What should I tell him?"

"Precisely what you have already said. Say that you will take her back to the fleet. We will find a way to make her disappear." The voice would, as always, give him the direction he needed. The sort of direction that only family could provide.

"As you wish. Lord Vader."

FN-2187 watched Kylo disappear into the village. Overhead the roaring engines of Kylo's shuttle filled the air, it would be arriving to deliver his droid. The downdraft of the ship's engines blew loose some of the tents and sent them skittering across the desert sands. 2187 could only just hear the Lieutenant give the order to burn the village through his helmet's speakers. A moment later the roar of several flamethrowers joined the cacophony of noise.

The assault of sounds matched the raging emotions withing him. The girl had been captured and would be killed by Kylo Ren just like 2201. He had failed to save someone, again.

The girl staggered from the tangle of struts and fabric she had been thrown into. Her head was bleeding, dark blood running down her face, cut through by tracks of her tears. She looked around, terrified as the world around her burned and she was surrounded by the cold faces of Stormtrooper helmets. She would die like this; terrified and alone.

Unless 2187 did something.

The switch for his blaster's firing mode was just above the grip, all it took was a twitch of his thumb and it flicked to 'stun'. 2187 took a deep breath, the two JD troopers were in front of him, the girl just off to his left and behind them, through the village, was empty desert. He could do this. He might not make it far but maybe the girl could still get away.

His boot felts like they were made of lead, his arms were even heavier. Even so, he took a step forward and slowly raised his rifle.

"All units! Hyperspace signatures detected above the planet. It's the New Republic!" The Lieutenant's voice called through his helmet. FN-2187 stopped, shocked; his was it. The New Republic were here. Would this be the start of the First Order's crusade for justice?

The two JD troopers span around, alarmed and saw 2187 with his blaster aimed at them. One of them shouted, the sound ripping 2187 from his shock. Instinct took hold and he fired twice, his blaster kicking up each time, accompanied by the characteristic quack of stun blasts.

One of the JD troopers started to curse and fell silent as the blast overloaded his nerves. They both collapsed, rigid, into the hot sand. 2187 ran forward and kicked away their blasters.

He rolled them over and checked the displays on their wrists. The small screens showed their vitals were stable; their hearts hadn't been damaged by the stun blasts. 2187 sighed in relief, it was rare but during his training some of his fellow troopers had been accidentally killed by stun blasts. He didn't want to kill a fellow Stormtrooper; his family. That would make him like Ren.

"Are you alright?" The Stormtrooper yelled over the chaos of the village. Rey didn't understand what she had just seen. The trooper who had betrayed her had just stunned the other two and was now walking toward her. Had he been telling the truth? Or was this another trap?

"Why are you doing this?" Rey said, backing away from the trooper over the ruins of the tent.

The trooper stopped, his comrades unconscious in the sand behind him. Slowly, he raised his hands to his head and lifted off his faceless helmet. It revealed a young human man, sweat dripping off his dark brown skin. He dropped the helmet to the ground and gave a worried smile.

"Because it's the right thing to do."

Rey stared at him for a moment, the strange feeling from earlier returned. It felt like something deep inside her was telling her to trust him. It was stronger than instinct, surer than knowledge. It felt right; as right as running from the First Order had been.

"Alright. Let's go. Before they wake up." The trooper nodded and jogged over, helping her out of the tangled tent and cutting through her binders with a slash of his vibrobayonet. Touching his bloodied hand felt strange. Stormtroopers had always been part of her life, but they were something to either obey or fear, not let them help you.

"Where should we go?" Rey asked.

"I'm not sure, anywhere but here. Come on, maybe we can lose them in the desert." The trooper said, pointing away from where Kylo Ren's ship had landed. Rey nodded and let the trooper lead her away, through the burning village.

Rey struggled to keep up with the trooper, not only was she still groggy from being flung through the air but she was much smaller than he was. Several times they had to pause and hide as pairs of Stormtroopers stalked past them, their bayonets glittering in the red sunset as they prowled for survivors. The trooper watched them each time, his face twisted with emotion. Each time Rey was sure he would betray her the strange feeling might say to trust him but she hadn't learned to be very trusting aboard the Rax.

"Who are you?" She whispered as they neared the final row of tents. Between the burning fabric and scorched metal she could see the endless, flat expanse of desert before them.

"I'm FN-2187. We're nearly there, once we're out we'll find a place to hide and wait for the rest of the troops to leave. Maybe we can find a trading post and get a way off this dust ball." He replied. Rey looked at the stretching desert before them and the burning red sun in the sky. She was suddenly unsure that dying in the desert would be any better than being executed.

"I'm Nithar'ey. The other humans call me 'Rey.' Thank you, for helping me." The trooper smiled. He had the sort of wide, friendly smile that Rey only remember from the early days of her childhood, before the First Order, before she had spent sixteen years trapped as a slave aboard a single ship.

"Okay Rey, are you ready?" He asked, gesturing toward the desert with his blaster.

She took a long, deep breath.

"I am."

\--

"Hey Dameron, my scanners show something burning below us on the planet. Power signatures say there are some ships by it too. Should we check it out?" Jacen Dume asked from the cockpit of his U-wing.

"Copy that Dume, let's go. There's nothing up here anyway, just rocks and old space junk." Captain Poe Dameron's voice said through the commlink. He sounded disappointed and bored. Jacen didn't blame him; he'd joined the Phoenix Fleet to protect the galaxy, not chase Mynocks.

He sighed, pushing down on his controls and angling toward the power signatures on the planet. Through his view screen he watched Poe's Black X-Wing and the other two fighters of Black group follow suit; their thrusters blazing in the darkness of space.

The four ships tore through atmosphere, trailing vapour as they punched through layers of orange clouds. Poe lead the way, bursting through the final layer of cloud to level out and ease off the throttle. He watched steam rise from his S-foils as the heat of re-entry burned off the condensation from the clouds.

"Alright Jacen, what are we looking for?"

"A big fire, a few kilometres south. We should be able to see it. No idea what there s too burn out here though.'

"Maybe there's a ship in trouble or- Hang on, I see it." Poe titled his ship to left, turning the retracted s-oils perpendicular to the surface. Not far below he could see a bright flickering light on the surface, half hidden in the shadow of a huge sand dune. There were a few ships lit by the shifting flames including a large black ship with folded wings. He could just make out dozens of people swarming between the ships and tents like ants. Strangely they all looked like they were wearing…

"Are those… Stormtroopers?" Jacen asked over the radio. Poe frowned, that was impossible, the Empire had fallen decades ago.

"Let's take a closer look, something doesn't feel right. Lock your s-foils in attack position. Be careful." Behind him is droid, BB-8, tweeted in response and the ship's long wing-like S-foils split open.

The squadron descended quickly, noses diving sharply toward the burning village. Somewhere below them a Stormtrooper looked up and shouted, pointing at the ships. A moment later Jacen and Poe found themselves diving into a storm of red blaster fire.

"BB-8! Front deflector shields up!" Poe shouted, jerking his X-Wing into a tight roll. They were too far up for small arms fire to do any damage but he preferred not to take the chance. There was a snap and the hint of ozone as his deflector shields sprung up around the ship.

"What the hell are we dealing with Poe! Who's shooting at us?"

"No idea Jacen! Pull around and see if you can spot any civilians, that village looks real bad."

"Copy that, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to see if I can get them to calm down a little. Black three, four follow me. Engines to max!"

The three X-wings continued their dive in tight formation, almost touching. Blaster shots slid harmlessly off their deflectors in a splash of colour. In his cockpit Poe smiled, watching the ground rapidly grow closer. He could see now that the people shooting him wore stark white armour, almost exactly like the old Imperial Stormtroopers sets he had seen in museums.

Poe set his teeth and yanked back on the controls, just as the rest of Black Squadron did the same. His body compressed into his seat as the inertial dampeners were almost overloaded. t felt like a Wookie had taken a seat on his chest, smacking the air out his lungs and his vision dimmed at the edges.

His X-Wing, with thrusters and repulsors screaming pulled out of the dive and levelled out just a dozen meters from the ground right alongside the other two Black pilots. As soon as he was level, Poe flared the thruster and shot across the top of the village. The force of the three X-Wing engines blasted the dozens of Stormtroopers off their feet and sent tents flying through the flames.

"Nice one Poe, don't let Rose know you pulled that move. She'll kill you for doing that to her poor X-Wings." Jacen was higher up, moving slowly east away from the village. The Stormtroopers, or whoever they were, were on the opposite side of the village so east was the only way anyone could go.

Down below the desert stretched out endlessly, reminding Jacen of the desert mesas of Ryloth. These were full of coarse sand though and completely devoid of any life, unlike the ones back home. Ryloth was a place of rugged beauty; Jakku was nothing but dead wastes.

"Poe I see something, looks like two people are making a break for it." He called, noticing two figures running through the sands below. One wore the white armour of a soldier, though it looked like they weren't wearing a helmet. Behind the solider another figure in loose black clothes was struggling to keep up. Jacen wasn't sure who they were but he did see the group of soldiers chasing after them.

"I see them. Whoever these people are they don't want those two getting away. I'll come around for another pass, you get in front of them, see if you can pick them up, they might have some answers for us." Poe ordered, swinging his X-wing in a wide arc around the village so he the two were running directly at him. He grinned and gunned the thrusters.

Rey looked up to see one of the black and orange starfighters come screaming toward her across the desert. She was a few meters behind 2187, gasping for breath as they sprinted across the endless sand.

They had started running just before the ships had shown up and blasted across the village. The confusion had given them some time to escape. She risked a glance behind her and saw a squad of troopers chasing after her; t their front Kylo Ren's red lightsabre crackled with light.

"Rey! Drop!" 2187 shouted and snapped off a few stun blasts at their pursuers. Kylo lazily flicked them away with his saber, barely pausing in his stride. Rey dropped to the sand with 2187 just as the ship passed over head, the downdraft was so strong that Rey felt like she was being stomped into the sand.

Kylo plunged his saber in the ground and somehow stayed standing as the Stormtroopers around him were blown away. He raised his gloved hand, fingers splayed wide then slapped down, palm first. Rey felt a something strange wash over, an unknown but familiar sensation raising that set the hair on her arms standing. The swirling cloud of sand that had been kicked up by the X-Wing vanished, the sand blown to the ground by some unseen force.

"Oh, that's not good." 2187 said. Coarse sand ran through his shaved black hair and poured off his armour as he pushed himself back up and grabbed Rey's hand. Her red eyes were wide with shock, staring straight at Kylo Ren who had raised his saber and was marching toward them.

"I felt it. I felt… him." Rey clutched her hands to her chest to stop them from shaking. Somehow that creature in black had brought the sand down and whatever he'd done, Rey had felt it. It was like the same feeling that told her to trust 2187 or had told her the First Order were at the village. It was like that but also not at all; it had felt wrong, twisted, corrupted.

"Rey! Move!" 2187 shouted next to her, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her around. The world snapped back into focus; bringing with it all its noise. Her ears were still ringing from the noise of the ship's engines but she could hear Stormtroopers yelling as they got to their feet and the crackling of Kylo's saber.

Rey jumped and ran, fear raging inside her. She ran faster, sweat pouring down her neck, until she was side by side with 2187's long strides. He looked terrified too, sand sticking to the sweat on his face. He had lost his blaster when the ship flew over; now they both unarmed, terrified and running for the lives.

There was another loud roar of Ion engines overhead. A long three-pronged ship flew low over her, the ships' downdraft whipping her short hair around and throwing sand up in a cloud. It drifted sideways through the air, turning so the was side on to Rey and hovered a few feet off the ground in front f her. It's thin wings, longer than it's short, blue and white body looked like an insurmountable wall to Rey. The four thick thruster tubes at its back would make running around it impossible.

Surrounded by a low, rolling cloud of sand and pursued by a dark creature Rey stopped, her last spark of hope dying. She was trapped.

There was screech of metal as a hatch on the side of the ship was thrown open and the maw of a blaster cannon's muzzle emerged. Rey closed her eyes, the darkness behind her eyes was the barrel of the cannon, the heat of her fear was Kylo's blazing saber. She heard the crack of the blaster. In her mind, she saw the end come.

A scorching line of heat passed over her shoulder, hot enough that she yelped despite the stolen flightsuit. Something grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward, a mix of voices shouting at her. Rey opened her eyes, 2187 was pulling her toward the ship. The blaster's muzzle glowed as it spat a flurry of bright blue light. It took her a moment to realise that it was not at her but at Kylo and the troopers behind her.

Klyo's lightsaber was a blur of dancing red, the blade spinning through the air in front of him, knocking away the torrent of blaster fire. Rey gasped and ran toward the ship. She could see a human in a khaki flightsuit and helmet shouting at her, waving for her to get in. Rey made it to the edge of the ship's open bay and turned, just in time to see Kylo Ren still advancing, his saber still swatting away blaster bolts like they were insects.

A strong pair of hands grabbed Rey by the shoulders and pulled her up into the open cargo bay. The enclosed space was filled by the roaring of the blaster canon, making it impossible to hear whatever the alien with green head tails behind the cannon was yelling. 2187 hauled himself up pulled Rey as far from the open door as he could.

Rey looked up at his face, expecting to see the same terror she felt. Instead, she saw that the was smiling, even as the red storm of Kylo Ren grew closer. The human rushed to the front of the ship and started to pull the ship up before they'd even dropped into the seat.

The ship shook beneath them, raising on it's roaring repulsorlifts. The alien at the gun stopped firing, roaring in what Rey realised was a husky, feminine voice. They were a dozen meters off the ground already and rising rapidly. They had escaped.

The Alien turned and pumped her fist in the air with a smile full of sharp teeth.

There was a flash of red behind her and the hiss of melting metal. She shirked and jumped forward falling to the metal deck beneath. The ship rocked violently, rolling to the side so that only the ground below was visible through the open hatch. The alien screamed as she realised she was sliding toward the hatch Rey just had time to see the terror in the alien's yellow through her visor.

2187 jumped forward, planting his feet against one of the low metal seats and just barely managed to grab the alien's outstretched hand. He heaved with the effort, his already exhausted body struggling to hold her. Rey slid down and grabbed the other hand tightly. Together they managed to pull her back and she clung to a railing with them.

"There's someone outside on the hull! Hold on!" A low voice yelled from the cockpit. From outside Rey heard the sound of crackling energy followed by the crash of a small explosion that rocked the ship.

"I just lost engine one!" The voice from up front yelled, it said something else that was lost as the ship fully turned over, even as it shook from the sputtering engine. Rey clung to the railing, 2187 and the alien right beside her. Both sets of eyes, brown and yellow went wide as the ship jerked back to level, throwing the three of them hard against the metal bulkhead.

"Ha! Enjoy the dust Sleemo!" The ship was still shaking with every dying spurt of the damaged engine. Rey realised with horror that the person on the ship must have been Kylo. The stories her family had told her had said that his red blade could slice through metal with ease. But they had been a dozen meters above the ground when he had leapt on. How was that possible?

"Blast it Jacen! Warn me before you spin Seline next time! "The green alien said, rubbing her lower back where she had hit the bulkhead. She pulled the bay door shut and stuck her head into the cockpit space up front.

"For the last time we're not calling the ship Seline, it's Spectre." The male pilot, Jacen, Rey assumed, shot back.

"Spectre? Who do you think we are, Rogue squadron? Instructor Antilles would laugh at you. Seline is a much better name."

"A better name for that Pantoran you met on Bfapassh maybe. Come up here and help me Mey, Poe will want to talk to our passengers."

The Alien fondly patted the metal wall of the ship and leaned toward it, "Don't worry Seline, you're much prettier than the other one." She cooed before climbing into the cockpit.

Rey and 2187 were left alone for the moment, both of them huddled up against the metal bulkhead at the back of the ship. Rey was still shaking from what had happened and completely exhausted.

Despite that, as she felt the ship go slide from the rough turbulence of atmosphere to the smooth glide of Zero-Gee she let herself smile. She had finally done it.

She was free of the First Order.


End file.
